Mysterious Events

With the melting of winter snowpack and ice at lakes in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, several observers noted something was different at the Stanley Lake inlet.

Initial reports noted that this former boat launch, beach, and popular fishing area was flooded with deep water and had seemingly disappeared.

Yep, according to new investigations, geologists believe that the Stanley Lake inlet beach collapsed as a result of the March 31 M6.5 earthquake.

The Idaho Geological Survey reviewed photos and pre- and post-earthquake satellite imagery of the inlet and linked the flooding with geologic processes associated with the powerful Idaho earthquake.

“The most probable cause for the “disappearing” of the inlet delta is a combination of liquefaction and compaction of saturated sediments and some possible sliding and lateral spreading on the delta toward the deeper part of the lake as a result of the March 31 earthquake or the associated aftershocks,” said Claudio Berti, Director and State Geologist, Idaho Geological Survey.

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area recently redesigned the recreation facilities at Stanley Lake. In 2019, a newly constructed boat ramp replaced the inlet delta for boats accessing the lake. Aging campground infrastructure was removed from the shoreline near the inlet and replaced with a new Stanley Lake Campground at the east side of the lake. The inlet beach remained accessible with a trail and boardwalk for recreationist and anglers.

“The loss of the inlet beach for fishing and recreation is unfortunate because that area was so popular with visitors at the lake, fortunately, the new boat ramp and campground construction were completed before this event, ensuring access for boaters and campers going forward,” said Brian Anderson, Deputy Area Ranger for the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

Geologists will further investigate the site to collect data that would better describe this event and the overall geological characterization of the March 31 earthquake and aftershocks.

Birds literally fall dead from the sky across Europe, and nobody knows why.

Thousands of dead swallows and swifts in Greece

Scientists believe high winds over the last three days have killed or gravely injured thousands of swallows and swifts, migrating from Africa to Europe.

The carcasses have been found in the streets of Athens, on apartment balconies in the capital, on Aegean islands and around a lake close to the seaport of Nauplia in the Peloponnese. Here a video of the living birds:

Hundreds of birds were discovered dead on a cruise ship open deck by the crew on April 24, 2020.

An anonymous witness says it appears the birds had dropped down dead from the sky.

The crew said it is the first time they witness such a phenomenon on a ship.

One crew member explains, there were many birds flying around the ship the night before: “It was a beautiful night and we couldn’t believe our eyes when we woke up this morning and see so many dead birds all around the ship’s open deck.”

Another crew member continues: “We woke up with announcements asking to not go to the open decks, to not touch the birds, and to stop feeding them.

“I thought that the poor birds were alive. I love animals and I didn’t want to see them and couldn’t help in anything. I still can’t stop crying and nobody can give any reasonable explanations.”

This is the first time I hear about such a bird mass die-off! On a cruise ship! Can you imagine that? I am not the only one. The crew said it is the first time they witness such a phenomenon on a cruise ship.

This is not the first time that bird mass die-offs are being reported around the world:

The explanation usually provided for these kind of events is poisoning, shock, wind or an aerial predator.

If this was really the case one might reasonably expect to see numerous examples and witness reports of mass fatalities like the above happening in the natural world every single day.

This is clearly not the case. Those explanations are unreliable. Something very strange is going on in our atmosphere

Hundreds of rainbow lorikeets have been paralysed and killed by a mysterious disease that is spreading at an alarming rate.

The disease, known as lorikeet paralysis syndrome or clenched-foot syndrome, has left birds immobile on the sidewalks of suburban Brisbane, where they die horrific deaths.

Darryl Jones from Griffith University explained the disease spreads similar to the C-virus through close contact in the community.

Experts said the newly discovered lorikeet paralysis syndrome has killed hundreds of birds this season.

Pictured are some of the 24 birds found dead under a single tree in Brisbane.

‘They fight each other like crazy and when they are biting and breathing on each other they spread the virus,‘ he said.

‘It’s very much like the corona itself, it’s brand new and we don’t know much about it and it seems to be happening where the birds are gathering in large numbers.‘

Professor Jones said lorikeet paralysis syndrome slowly spreads through the body of the beloved Australian bird until their lungs seize and they suffocate.

‘It starts in the feet so when they try and land on a branch they can’t hold on and then they just fall to the ground and within an hour they die,‘ he said.

Professor Jones said initially experts feared lorikeets were being devoured alive by ants and predators but in most cases paralysis has killed the bird beforehand.

He said Brisbane was currently the ‘epicentre’ for the new disease that was only discovered three years ago.

‘The largest number seems to be in Brisbane but I’ve had about ten emails from people in Melbourne, Sydney and Rockhampton all describing exactly the same thing so it really might be much more widespread,‘ Professor Jones said.

‘It’s incredibly alarming there are hundreds of birds dying in a horrible way right no – I’ve been sent images of 24 birds under one tree all dead.‘

Although there is little research on why the birds have been dying, veterinary reports have pointed towards foreign plants mutating in certain climate conditions.

‘The vets have put it down to foraging resources and strangely it seems the African Tulip Tree may be one of the things responsible,‘ Professor Jones said.

Professor Jones encouraged people not to feed lorikeets for the foreseeable future as it would increase the spread of the disease by gathering the birds close together.

‘There is a vast amount of natural food available so the lorikeets do not need our food so,‘ he said.

‘I would recommend not feeding them right now for the welfare of the bird -at least for the moment.‘

There is a new mystery bird illness being investigated in Germany…

After more than 11,000 German blue tits were found dead or sick overnight.

More than 11,000 cases of dead and sick birds, mostly blue tits, have been reported to the German conservation group NABU in the past fortnight. Most of these are reported from the west of Germany.

Mystery infection causes Pneumonia

The infection discovered causes pneumonia in tits – predominantly blue tits – and they become lethargic with fluffed-up plumage and breathing difficulties. There are no reports of this affecting any other animals apart from birds.

Note: What about humans right now?

According to NABU, symptoms of the diseased birds include breathing problems, no longer taking food and making no attempt to escape when approached by people.

The group is advising people to stop feeding or providing drinking troughs for birds to reduce the risk of transmission between them.

The first laboratory test results on the dead birds have found a bacterial infection (Suttonella ornithocola) that has been known in the UK since the 1990s and which affects birds similarly.

The infection was reported in Germany in 2018. Further test results on birds are expected over the next few days.

Only in Germany?

Dr Becki Lawson, a disease specialist at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said she had not yet seen any recent increase in mortality in blue tits or any other garden bird species in the UK.

“We are aware of the recent reports of blue tit mortality from Germany and understand investigations are under way to determine the cause,” Lawson said. “Once a diagnosis is reached, we will be able to comment on whether the condition affecting blue tit populations in Germany is one that we also see in Great Britain.”

A spokesperson for the RSPB said the risk to UK bird populations was currently extremely low. “This disease predominantly affects blue tits which are largely sedentary birds and do not move far from where they fledged. If this disease is not already present in the UK, transmission across countries from Germany to the UK will be slow,” they said.

Note: I think it is exactly what they said for the current pandemic, no?

Members of the public have been urged to report any sick or dead blue tits through Garden Wildlife Health, a monitoring project run between the ZSL, the British Trust for Ornithology, Froglife and the RSPB.

Now if you add up all the recent bird mass die-offs in Europe and across the world, it seems that there is really something strange happening in our sky. Look by yourself:

The blue tit is found across Europe and is one of the most common visitors to UK gardens. They eat insects, caterpillars, seeds and nuts and can be spotted all year round in the UK, with the exception of some Scottish islands.

There are indeed many extreme microbes and bacteria that are commonly found in Antarctica and love to color water or ice in different colors. By the way, have you ever heard of the Blood Falls in Antarctica?

Strange sounds were recorded by a resident of Domodedovo, Russia. The noise resembled a siren or the voice of a horror movie. Someone heard the wind in the strange sound... a warning about impending cataclysms.

According to the author of the video, the strange noise started around 03:00 a.m. and lasted until approximately 03.40 a.m. The author of the video told MK reporters:

The window was ajar. I already went to bed and heard these sounds. At first it seemed to me that this was howling dogs or something. I opened the window to the fullest, and the sound became clearer and very strange in nature. I have never heard anything like it before. All this lasted about 15 minutes.

According to users of social networks, a similar anomalous noise has already been recorded in different corners of the planet, and it itself may be a harbinger of cataclysms or even an apocalypse.

Director of the Institute for Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Peter Shebalin blames the planes for everything. According to him, the source of noise could be two flying aircraft, which created sound resonance.

Shebalin's version seems quite realistic, but the problem is that due to the coronavirus pandemic, all international flights and most domestic flights have been practically stopped at the airport.

It is worth noting that foreign scientists also could not give a meaningful explanation of the origin of these strange sounds, which have been recorded in different parts of the planet for more than ten years.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of crows flying overhead, headed in the same direction, just like clockwork.

Crows are also associated with death and dying… And the epidemic outbreak is more than apocalyptic in Washington State. Similar scenes, where millions of crows are showing in massive murders have also been reported in China, Italy, Spain, Iran, UK, and even Tajikistan, sparking fears of incoming crisis

If a congregation of crows is called a murder, then the nightly gathering at North Creek Wetlands could be described as a massacre.

At dusk the sky darkens over the University of Washington Bothell as up to 15,000 pitch-black crows descend on the campus. Swooping and cawing, they come from all directions to roost for the night.

Those crows join up with more crows along their nightly route and eventually a murder of many thousands of crows converges on the rooftops and trees around the University of Washington.

“It’s really spectacular,” said UW Bothell biologist Douglas Wacker. “They’re coming from all directions, and the sky is just black with crows.”

The mammoth mob might seem ominous to a casual onlooker.

But it’s roused the curiosity of Bothell educators and students that are working to better understand crows and their connection to humans.

Four years ago, as a freshman, Colton Niblack was caught off guard when he first spotted the flying horde gathering overhead in 2012. “I thought it was the apocalypse,” he said.

Like many others, Niblack’s initial surprise turned to intrigue. Now, he’s studying the crows alongside fellow biology students and UW researchers. The clever creatures could give them insight into the evolution of intelligence.

Crows have left their mark on culture too. For centuries, they’ve fascinated people all over the world.

Crows are known to recognize and remember people’s faces and share that information. They mate for life and are thought by some to hold funerals for their dead.

Flying in the face of the slur “birdbrain,” some have showed their smarts by making and using tools, a feat few animals have accomplished.

People have even reported getting gifts from the avians. While other birds’ numbers are dwindling, crows have adapted and are thriving alongside humans.

The American crows started coming to roost in the treetops of a restored wetland at UW Bothell about 10 years ago. After spending the day scavenging for food in their usual spots around Seattle, Monroe, Everett and Edmonds, they take safety in numbers as night falls.

“I’ve never seen so many birds in one dang place,” said freshman Gregory Yuen.

As the sun sets, small groups of crows sail through the air above campus. One by one they land, perching on rooftops and along fence posts.

There seems to be a pecking order as some wait longer than others before heading to the roost for the night. At dawn, they rise, making their way back to their feeding spots.

“It’s inspiring” to watch, said Assistant Professor Doug Wacker. “Crows do things that make you think.”

Seismologists in South Korea are concerned about an unusual rash of earthquakes that have shaken the peninsula in recent weeks, with some suggesting that this sudden upsurge in seismic activity might be a precursor to a major — and potentially very destructive — earthquake.

The Korean Peninsula is not traditionally considered to be a part of the so-called Ring of Fire, the seismically active fault lines that run around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. However, seismologists are looking at whether shifting tectonic plates might become a new normal for the Koreas.

Last week, the Korea Meteorological Administration reported a magnitude 2.8 tremor in Wanju County, in the far southwest of South Korea. Although there was no damage reported from the weak quake and nobody was injured, this is the first time since December 2014 that a tremor with a magnitude above 2 has hit the region.

Huge upsurge in seismic activity

Two days before the Wanju termor, a 3.8-magnitude quake was detected in North Korea. The South's monitoring agency quickly announced it was natural seismic activity to dispel any concerns that it might have been another underground nuclear test conducted by the regime in Pyongyang.

The North conducts its atomic tests at its Punggye-ri proving grounds, in the northeast of the country, with the last detonation on September 3, 2017, of a hydrogen bomb that registered as an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3.

But of even deeper concern to the experts have been the more than 400 seismic tremors since April 26 in a single area in South Jeolla Province, in the far south-west of the peninsula.

The region has not reported seismic activity since the government first began collating data in 1978.

Experts admit that they do not know for sure what is triggering the activity, but there are some theories as to why it is increasing up and down the peninsula.

"We have been monitoring the South Jeolla events closely because they are very unusual and have been happening in a very short space of time," said Hong Tae-kyung, a professor of seismology at Yonsei University in Seoul.

"It is also unusual because they are happening in a very small area and they are much deeper than usual," he said, adding that quakes on the peninsula usually occur at a depth of around 10 kilometers (6 miles). These latest tremors are happening 20 kilometers beneath the surface.

A blast from the past

"We do not know exactly why this is happening, but there are certainly some theories that need to be verified through further research," said Hong. "My personal speculation is that what we are seeing now is a result of the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan."

Also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, the epicenter of the Tohoku quake struck 70 kilometers off the coast of northeast Japan at a depth of approximately 29 kilometers below the seabed.

A megathrust earthquake, it was the most powerful ever recorded in Japan and the fourth largest in the world since 1900.

It unlashed powerful tsunami waves that decimated the northern Japanese coastline with heights of more than 40 meters.

The waves hit the Fukushima nuclear plant, releasing radiation and adding an extra layer to the disaster. Nearly 19,000 people died or are still listed as missing.

Massive quake 'repositioned' the peninsula

"When the Tohoku quake happened, that moved the eastern part of the Korean peninsula about 5 centimeters (2 inches) to the east," said Hong.

"At the same time, it moved the western part of the peninsula around 2 centimeters to the east, which means the quake stretched the crust of the peninsula by about 3 centimeters."

There was renewed seismic activity on the Korean peninsula in the months and years after the Tohoku tragedy, Professor Hong said, including a 5.8 tremor in 2016 that was the largest ever recorded in Korea.

But deeper tectonic plate activity was relatively quiet until earlier this year.

Yoshiaki Hisada, a professor at Japan's Kogakuin University focusing on earthquake impact said, historically, the Korean Peninsula has seen little significant seismic activity, and the recent increase in quakes is cause for concern.

"Earthquakes can come and go in areas over a long span of time and might disappear altogether for many years in some parts of the world, only to come back again later," he said.

"The Earth is made up of plates that are always moving, so stresses increase and decrease, but increasing frequency of movements is something that needs to be monitored very carefully. That is a warning sign."

Monitoring the ground

The Korea Meteorological Administration has installed a number of observation facilities in South Jeolla to collect seismic data and, in a worst-case scenario, issue alerts.

Professor Hong says that while there have been no truly devastating earthquakes in a century, historical records show that the peninsula is not completely immune to a major tremor that could cause a significant amount of damage and loss of life.

"Literature that survives from the Joseon Dynasty, which ran for a little over 500 years until 1897, does recount stories of earthquakes and damage to communities on the peninsula," he said.

"From what the researchers can tell, it would appear that they experienced quakes of a magnitude as high as 7, and if that happened in the past, it is, of course, possible that something similar could happen once again."

"I would say that as a result of the Tohoku earthquake, there is an increased possibility that Korea might experience a major tremor. We need to be vigilant."